Colorado State women's basketball sinks program-record 19 3-pointers in rout of San Diego State

AJ Newton makes seven 3s, scores game-best 23 points

By Sean Star Sports Writer

Posted:
02/01/2014 05:35:40 PM MST

Colorado State's AJ Newton made seven 3-pointers to lead the Rams to a dominant 95-48 win over San Diego State on Saturday.
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John Eisele/CSU Photography
)

FORT COLLINS -- The motto this season for the Colorado State women's basketball team has been "find a way to win."

That wasn't too difficult for the Rams Saturday at Moby Arena against visiting San Diego State.

Everything was in synch for CSU, which made a program-record 19 3-pointers in a 95-48 rout of the Aztecs. Junior guard AJ Newton led the Rams' shooting barrage, making 7-of-10 from behind the arc for a game-best 23 points.

Newton gave the Rams an early spark by making three 3s in the game's first 8 minutes, giving CSU a double-digit lead the rest of the afternoon.

"The more momentum we had, the more they gave up," Newton said. "I felt like our energy was so much better than theirs and our confidence was up. I don't think anyone could've brought us down today."

Coach Ryun Williams' team has now won 12 of its past 13 games in improving to 16-4 overall, matching the most wins for the program in a decade. CSU also remained atop the Mountain West standings at 8-1, a game ahead of Boise State, which on Saturday broke a tie for second with UNLV after a 79-49 win at home.

The Rams shared the wealth in what was their largest margin of victory of the season. All but four of their 35 field goals came with an assist while 11 different players scored.

"I haven't been a part of many games like that," Williams said, "where we make 19 3s and (have) 31 assists and everybody plays that well."

Danesha Long scored 16 points on 6-of-15 shooting to lead the Aztecs (7-11, 4-4), who cooled off after entering the day having won four of their previous five.

"That's the good thing about our team is if someone's having an off-night, there's always a number of players that can pick them up," said Thompson, whose team began the second half on a 12-0 run to turn a 47-26 halftime lead into a 33-point cushion. "I don't think anyone had any off night tonight, but the starters were able to build that lead enough to where other players were able to get involved and get some experience."

Saturday completed a season series sweep for CSU, which won its fifth straight MW game for the first time since 2004.

While CSU began the second half of league play with perhaps its most complete effort of the season, San Diego State appeared very much headed in the opposite direction. The Aztecs -- the two-time defending league champions -- shot just 28.8 percent and turned the ball over 24 times.

"It's amazing to see the progress we've made since my freshman year," Thompson said. "Then to come in on a great team like San Diego State and beat them by that much was unbelievable. We knew they were a great team and we were confident that we could win this game, but we never thought it would be like that."